synVideo is very simple
to use. The screen has a list of images on the
left, and an image display area on the right.
Click on an image to see it. As people send you
new images, they are added to the bottom of the images
list. If you are currently selected on
the bottom image on the list (the most recent
one), then you will automatically display each
new image as it comes in. Otherwise, the display
will remain fixed on the image you selected.

How To
Send Images:

To send a jpeg
file, just right-click on the Images List and
select "Send Jpeg File" from the menu
which appears. This will open a file browser you
may use to locate the file. Note that you can
only send JPG files, so if you have images of
another format, you will need to convert them to
jpegs first. And while you're at it, compress
them a bit as well.

Please
do not send inappropriate images. Use a password-protected
server if you need to send images of a nature
inappropriate for the general audience. Do not
violate your Arcadia Terms of Service (see your
HELP menu for more details)

If you have a
video source connected to your computer, then you
can easily send snapshots to the other players. First
you must turn your camera on, by
pressing the TOY PREFERENCES button (on the
Arcadia toolbar) and checking the "camera
on" checkbox.

This should give
you a dialog like this:

This should show a live preview of
what your camera is looking at. NO SNAPSHOT IS SENT UNTIL YOU PUSH
THE SEND IMAGE BUTTON.

The SELECT SOURCE
and SETUP VIDEO buttons will
bring up dialog boxes which will vary with your
brand of camera, but between the two of them you
should be able to select a particular camera (if
you have more than one!), set the size of the
snapshot, and play with various lighting and
contrast effects.

When you have yourself posed
attractively (as shown above), press SEND IMAGE
to send your face to the other players.

How Do I
Send an Image to Just One Person?

If you un-check
the SEND TO ALL checkbox, then
your images will only be sent to the person who
you have selected in the Arcadia player list (so
be careful not to click on the wrong person!).
Otherwise your image goes to everyone on the
server.

The
Image Goes to EVERYONE on the server?

Well, no. Even
with SEND TO ALL checked, your
image may not reach an individual player because
of one or more of the following reasons:

Your
image is too big. Players can
specify the MAX FILE SIZE they are
willing to receive, so that 13 Megabyte
image of your vacation in Hawaii probably
won't be seen by anyone.

You
are being muted. If a player has
muted you in Arcadia, then they won't see
any of your images. Just like they won't
see any of your chat text, or hear your
microphone speech.

Your
image is not a JPEG. And to
qualify, it must also have the JFIF token
inside the file. (Your paint program
probably knows how to fix this if you
have a jpeg without it.)

You
are behind a Firewall or Proxy server.
Images are fetched by the players from
your PC. If your PC blocks these fetches,
then you cannot send images. This applies
to all Synthetic Reality games.

Much as an
answering machine can deliver a greeting message
when you are not there, you may assign one of
your images to be your greeting image.
People can fetch your greeting image any time
they like by right-clicking on your name in the
Arcadia player list and asking for it.

You set your
greeting image by right-clicking on an image in
the Images List and selecting
the proper choice from the popup menu.

What
Other Options Are There?

Not many,
really. SynVideo is a very simple toy. Perhaps
someday I will let you scribble moustaches on
people's images. But, for now, all the options
are in the menu which appears when you
right-click in the Images List.
These include:

Send
JPEG File. Let's you send any
old jpeg you have lying around, whether
you own a camera or not.

Resend
<current image>. Let's you
send again any picture from your
collection (in the images list). And if
they already have it, they just redisplay
the copy they already have.

Save
Image As... Let's you save a
copy of the image to another folder on
disk.

Make
<current image> your greeting image.
This sets the selected image as your
greeting image, which can be fetched by
any other player by right-clicking on
your name in the Arcadia player list.

Stretch
Images to Fill Screen. You can
also toggle this by clicking in the main
image display area. The image will either
be stretched to fill the screen (while
preserving its aspect ratio, of course!)
or will be shown 'real size' (which may
not all fit).

Show
Image Date and Size. Shows the
date of when you received the image, and
its size.

View
Diary Page of Sender. Opens the
Arcadia Diary page for the person who
sent the image (if it can).

Reload
Image List. In an emergency,
this reloads the Images List with all the
files which still exist in your toy's
frames folder.

Sort
by Date. Sorts the image list by
date.

Sort
by Size. Sorts the image list by
size

Sort
by Name. Sorts the image list by
name

Delete
<current image>. This lets
you get rid of an image you don't want
any more.

Drag and
Drop Support

By the time you
read this, I may have added support for dragging
files to and from the image list. (dragging TO
synVideo will send the image, as if you selected
it via Send Jpeg File). Note that synVideo
imposes maximum image sizes in varying ways. One
way is based on dimensions, so if you drag in an
image wider than 1K pixels or so, it will be
refused.

So, Why
Do I Want to Do This, Again?

I dunno. My
reasons for making it were to allow me to help my
kids with their math homework when I had to work
late. They can hold the book up to the camera if
I need to see a picture. You can probably think
of other uses, but I hope you will only use it
for noble purposes.